Alberto Mora

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a Vietnam veteran who has denounced the war in Iraq, was named a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on Thursday. Alberto Mora, a former Navy general counsel who warned Pentagon officials that U.S. policies on terrorism detainees could invite abuse, also will receive the award from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a Vietnam veteran who has denounced the war in Iraq, was named a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on Thursday. Alberto Mora, a former Navy general counsel who warned Pentagon officials that U.S. policies on terrorism detainees could invite abuse, also will receive the award from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

A Port Hueneme man was charged with murder Tuesday for allegedly using a box cutter to kill his wife over the weekend, authorities said. An arraignment for Alberto Mora Solis, 41, will be held May 14, said Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Patricia Murphy. Solis remained in jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. Authorities said Solis and his wife, Olga Solis, 51, had a history of marital problems.

We have once again entered the college commencement season, which means we'll soon be reading about uplifting graduation speeches delivered by prominent Americans. Or at least by prominent liberal Americans. It's becoming increasingly apparent that conservative speakers aren't welcome on college and university campuses. Last month, in the span of a few days, student protests disrupted a presentation by Karl Rove at the University of Massachusetts and one by Rand Paul at Howard University.

A 41-year-old Port Hueneme man was in custody Monday on suspicion of killing his wife, after she was found slashed in the couple's bed over the weekend. Alberto Mora Solis was set to be arraigned today. He was booked at Ventura County Jail on suspicion of murder after relatives called police to the couple's Bard Road home near Parkview Elementary School about 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Inside, police found the bloody body of 51-year-old Olga Solis.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations have called on President Obama to honor military personnel and civilians who opposed the use of torture in the war on terror. We would support such a gesture by the president, though we consider it unlikely given how often he has said that he wants to "look forward, not backward" regarding abuses committed during the George W. Bush administration. Fortunately, it doesn't take the president to shed light on the identities of government employees who balked at or questioned the Bush policies.

A report released Tuesday by the Justice Department has documented the Bush administration's unprecedented -- and illegal -- effort to politicize the ranks of the agency's prosecutors and civil service employees with conservatives and true believers in the religious right's agenda. Under then-Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, a thirtysomething lawyer named Monica M. Goodling -- a graduate of a law school founded by Pat Robertson -- had virtual veto power over the appointment of U.S. attorneys, other prosecutors and immigration judges.

Disneyland's misuse of equipment and its failure to train a key employee led to the Columbia sailing ship accident Christmas Eve that killed a man and seriously injured his wife and the employee, the state reported Thursday. After a three-month investigation, Cal/OSHA fined California's largest amusement park $12,500--the maximum allowed--for what it categorized as two serious violations that park officials "knew or should have known" carried the potential for "serious physical harm."

For four years, they waged what may have been the loneliest fight in the war on terrorism. Facing Bush administration hard-liners intent on finding novel ways to deal with enemy combatants, the armed services' own lawyers fought attempts to rewrite the rules of war. "We argued that this would come back to haunt us and it would taint the military justice system," said retired Rear Adm.

Disneyland's misuse of equipment and its failure to train a key employee led to the Columbia Sailing Ship accident on Christmas Eve that killed a tourist and seriously injured his wife and the employee, the state reported Thursday. After a three-month investigation, Cal/OSHA fined California's largest amusement park $12,500--the maximum allowed--for what it categorized as two serious violations that park officials "knew or should have known" carried the potential for "serious physical harm."